


Sacrificed Heart for a Broken Love

by Moonlit_Catra



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: ...kind of, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt, F/F, Hurt, I'm Sorry, Some comfort, i'm sorry in advance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24429670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlit_Catra/pseuds/Moonlit_Catra
Summary: Adora never considered the possibility that Horde Prime would not lead her into a trap, but instead let her walk into heartbreak.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 153





	Sacrificed Heart for a Broken Love

**Author's Note:**

> Did I make myself tear up a couple of times while writing this? Perhaps.

Adora stared at Horde Prime, trying to make herself look tall and unafraid. But the aura that the conqueror gave off left her uneasy.

"Where's Catra?" Adora asked firmly, her eyes narrowed as she looked directly at Horde Prime.

Horde Prime chuckled, not even bothering to stand up from his throne. It clearly amused him that Adora stood before him and was demanding something of him when she had nothing to overpower him. "Ah, yes... _your Catra_. She hoped that you would come for her. As she would have said, you are so very predictable." He snapped his fingers, smirking as he leaned back in his chair.

Adora heard footsteps coming from behind her, instinctively turning around to watch her back. She was not prepared for what she saw at all. A clone entered in first, holding an unconscious Catra. Another snap echoed in the room before the clone carelessly dropped the brunette to the floor, her body landing with a thud.

The blonde raced to Catra's side, lifting her into her arms, words of comfort swirling on her tongue until she realized.

_Catra wasn't breathing._

"She suffered in the end, you know? And for what? An enemy she so clearly had feelings for that she thought never felt the same for her. She knew she was hated… despised by everyone." Horde Prime said as he stood from his throne. He walked over to Adora as she cradled Catra's lifeless body in her arms. "I'm sure you both have a lot to catch up on… feel free to take her to your little ship with your little friends, _She-Ra_." He spat out as he walked past her and spoke over his shoulder before disappearing out of sight. "She won't be of much used to you though."

Adora felt cold. She felt as though a bucket of ice had been poured into her chest and was weighing her down in the worse of ways.

_Catra was gone._

Her eyes trailed the multiple injuries that laced the brunette's body. Cuts, bruises, burns… Prime was serious when he said that Catra had suffered. Catra had suffered through all of this alone, thinking that nobody cared. Adora lets out a heart-shattering cry as she holds Catra's head to her chest. She couldn't believe it… She had no time to mourn though.

Adora lifted Catra into her arms as she walked out of Horde Prime's version of the throne room. She placed a finger on her communicator, trying to bite down the sob as she spoke. "G-guys… I found Catra. We can head back to Darla… Horde Prime is allowing us to leave."  
  
Words of disbelief filled her ear as the others spoke to her from their end.  
  
"What? You found Catra?! And Horde Prime is letting us go?!" Bow called out in both relief and uncertainty.

Glimmer comes on the line, the distrust towards Horde Prime evident as she spoke. "There is no way he's just letting us leave. He's planning something. I don't trust him. That doesn't sound like him at all."  
  
Adora doesn't respond as she makes her way to their original location where Darla had been parked, the heaviness in her chest getting worse with each step. She felt numb… empty. She walked aimlessly, not even realizing that her feet had dragged her to the ship until she heard the others call out to her.  
  
"Adora! You really found her!" Glimmer raced towards them, Bow and Entrapta following their friend close behind. The group skidded to a stop, sighs of genuine relief escaping all of them. That is until Bow noticed the empty look in Adora's eyes.

Bow stepped closer to the blonde. "Adora… what's wrong?"  
  
Adora's breath shuddered, another sob threatening to escape her. "She's _gone_."

The somewhat cheerful atmosphere that had been present earlier broke as those words were uttered. The finality of the sentence seemed to tug at all of them.  
  
"What?..." Glimmer's eyes had widened as she finally paid attention to Catra's form. Tears filled lilac eyes as realization struck her. "No… No way. He…"

"He killed her… She's gone, Glimmer… She's _really gone…_ " The tears that Adora had tried to hold back forced themselves forward as she broke down right there. The blonde fell to her knees, holding Catra close to her once more. "She's gone… she's gone… He hurt her so much because she saved you… _she saved us…_ "

Glimmer fell to her knees next to Adora. She didn't understand why it hurt so much. It shouldn't. Not after everything that Catra had done to hurt her, to hurt Adora, to hurt Etheria. And yet… it hurt because she had begun to see that all those actions weren't who Catra truly was. Her time on Horde Prime's ship with only Catra as a familiar face had given her a new perspective. Where she had once seen a truly evil person, she saw someone that had been hurt so many times over.  
  
And then she remembered. She understood why it hurt so much to know that Catra had gone through all of this before losing her life. The queen recalled Catra's final words to her, those words ripping her heart to shreds for the brunette.

_**Me? All I do is hurt people. There is no one left in the universe that cares about me.** _

Catra died thinking that no one cared for her. That no one would make the effort to come for her and to save her. She died thinking that she was dispensable and that her life was worth throwing away for anyone else.

Glimmer placed a hand on Adora's shoulder, looking at her apologetically with tears in her own eyes. "I-I'm sorry…" She whispered to the blonde whose sobs had slowly lessened.  
  
"I want to take her home… To give her a proper burial… To finally let her be at peace. She deserves it after everything that she's been through." Adora spoke quietly after sitting there in silence. "It's the least I can do after I-" Her voice cracked as she lets out another cry. "After I failed her…"

Glimmer nodded beside her, drying up her tears with the back of her hand. "Of course… we'll do that for her. We should start heading back to Etheria… to bring her home."  
  
Bring her home.

That what Adora had intended on doing when she came to rescue Catra. She had never considered the possibility that Prime would have…  
  
Adora released a shuddering breath as she stood, adjusting Catra in her arms. She walked onto the ship with a heaviness in her movements. I'm sorry lingered on her tongue, but there was no point in speaking those words now that there was no one to hear her say them.  
  


* * *

They had managed to get past the Horde blockade thanks to the cat creature called Melog that they found on Krytis after Entrapta managed to locate the information on the planet. When they landed back on Etheria, it was like coming home for the first time. At least that how Adora wished it would have felt.  
  
"Welcome home, Catra." She whispered as she lifted the brunette's body. Entrapta had managed to make a contraption with the items on board the ship that prevented Catra's body from beginning the decay process until they made it to Etheria. The finality of everything was beginning to settle in and everything felt like it hurt.  
  
Catra's funeral didn't take long, it couldn't take long. Even if Adora wanted nothing more than to sit on top of the other's grave and grieve the loss of a friend, the loss of the person she cared most about, the loss of the person she… loved and never got to tell, she couldn't. The burden of the universe's safety still rested upon her shoulders.

So she marched on like the soldier that she was, closed away her grieve within her. She hadn't managed to bring She-Ra back since the cave where they had gotten fuel for the ship. So she stood with her friends and she fought and she walked like a hollow shell.

She heard the whispers of her friends, asking them to not mention Catra around her because of what had happened. It was a struggle. But the anger that she felt when Shadow Weaver had the nerve to badmouth the late magicat was only rivaled intensity by her hatred towards Horde Prime for being the one that had killed her.

Adora swore she would have knocked her out had it not been for the fact that Shadow Weaver was there to help get them to the failsafe. So she marched on, walking on autopilot as she did her best to save her friends because she had already failed once.

Everything felt like a blur to her until she walked into the Heart on her own, leaving Bow and Glimmer behind with the failsafe glowing and dimming in her chest. She would have admired the sight of the Heart if she had had the chance, but life hadn't given her the opportunity to stop and breathe.

Not for mourning, not for admiring, not for breathing.

She stood beneath the Heart, watching the green veins growing closer before closing her eyes. A yell erupting from her at the pain that seemed to submerge her in darkness. Her eyes opening as she saw her reflection in a cascade of water.

Adora looked confused at her own reflection. Where… was she? Her thoughts were interrupted by a door opening and laughter filling the room. Her eyes widened when she saw Catra running into the room with a laughing Glimmer on her tail, hairbrush in hand.  
  
"Don't let her touch me!" Catra yelled, laughing as she hid behind Adora.

"Do you always have to be this dramatic?" Glimmer rebutted, placing a hand on her hip.

Adora watched the scene play out, Bow interrupting in order to remind them that they would be late for Scorpia's ball if they took any more time. She watched as Glimmer leaned into Bow's side before the pair made their way out of the room.  
  
Catra stepped away from Adora to walk around her, holding out her hand for the blonde to take. "You coming?" The brunette asked with the sweetest of smiles, Adora's heart melting at the sight.

The blonde reached out, but as soon as her hand was placed upon Catra's, everything around her seemed to glitch and take an eerie green glow.

Horde Prime stood where Catra's form once was, a smirk curled on his lips as he spoke. "A beautiful wish. However, _there is no future for you_."

A cry of pain erupted from Adora once more as her body was shackled within the quickly fading world. Her body felt weak and her spirit even weaker. She had tried so hard to save her friends despite everything, but she had failed. As she closed her eyes and tears flowed from her cheeks, a warm touch seemed to make all the pain go away.

_"Adora."_ A warm voice said, the familiar sound prompting the blonde to open her eyes. Before her stood Catra, someone who she never thought she would see again.

"Catra?" Adora asked, not believing the sight in front of her. "You're here? But how? You-" A soft finger pressed against her lips, the brunette looking at her with a sad smile.  
  
" _Adora… I'm no longer of your world…_ " Catra started quietly, taking her finger away from Adora's lips. " _I wanted to tell you something… I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for everything that I ever did… to you and to anyone else. I wish I could have seen how blinded by the hurt I was. But I didn't and now it's too late for me to make up for what I did." Catra took in a deep breath, her eyes soft as she stared at the blonde. "But it's not too late for you_."

Adora's eyes filled with tears, pulling Catra into her arms. She was warm and she swore she felt the brunette purring in her arms. "I-I'm so sorry, Catra… I failed you… I failed everyone..."

" _You didn't._ " Catra corrected gently, pulling away to look at Adora and rest her forehead against the other's forehead. " _Adora, you cared enough to come back for me… cared enough to give me a proper place to rest… Adora, thank you._ " She whispered as she closed her eyes. " _There's something that I always wanted to say to you… that I never got the courage to say before. Adora… I love you. I always have and I always will._ "

"C-" A finger is placed upon Adora's lips again as Catra's form slowly becomes more translucent.

" _I love you and I believe in you. I want you to have a life after the war… I want you to be happy and find love and heal from the scars that life has given you… that I gave you. So please… you can't give up. Not now. You've never given up on anything before… not even on me. So, don’t' you dare start now, okay?_ " Catra smiled one more time before pressing her lips against Adora's.

Adora felt an overwhelming fluttering feeling in her chest as she felt Catra's lips against hers. The failsafe glowed brightly in her chest, overpowering the corruption that had been injected into the planet by Horde Prime. She felt her body growing, transforming into an unfamiliar, yet still familiar form of She-Ra. The warmth in her arms slowly fading as Catra faded away.

**_"Go get them… I'll always be by your side. I love you, Adora."_ **

She stood up from the floor where she had once laid, her eyes bright and sword in hand. As she emerged from the entrance of the Heart, eyes locked on and watched on in relief as she revived the planet and destroyed Horde Prime's existence from the universe.

As she stared at the newly rebirthed Etheria, a tear slid down her cheek as her friends approached.

"Adora, are you okay?" Bow asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Glimmer walked up to her as well, watching her expression carefully.

"I saw her… in the Heart." Adora started, lifting her hand up as she gently caressed her lips. She still felt the tingling warmth of Catra's lips against her own. Her aching heart fluttering in her chest with mixed feelings of sadness and overwhelming love.

Glimmer and Bow looked at each other in confusion, unsure of who Adora was referring to. "Who did you see?" Glimmer asked, gently prompting an answer from the blonde.

Adora smiled as she looked up at the rainbow that lit up at the sky. "I saw Catra in the Heart… She saved me… She told me she loved me and she kissed me." She sighed softly as she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself. "She saved us all." She felt her friends hug her tightly, wrapping her arms around them in return as she allowed for all of the tears that she had forced herself to hold back to finally fall. She swore at that moment she felt lips pressed against her own once more and then on her forehead and she would have told herself she had imagined it had it not been for her opening her eyes and seeing Catra's spirit standing there for a moment with a warm smile. 

_**"I love you... Live a happy life, Adora. You deserve it more than anyone."** _

With those words, Catra waved before fading away to finally rest, leaving Adora with a heavy heart that was at the same time filled with hope.

_I'll try my best, Catra... For myself and for you. I love you, I'll see you one day... wherever you are._


End file.
